Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Catootjie Nalle (left, with students) is a star
scientist. In 1999 she won an Australian
Government scholarship to study at Queensland University where she graduated
with a Masters Degree in animal nutrition.

A few years later the New Zealand
Government recognised her talents and offered her a place at Massey
University. She graduated with a PhD and
returned to her job at Kupang State Agriculture Polytechnic.

She’s spent more than seven years
studying overseas much of that time as a single mother caring for her son.

Dr Nalle, 44, is one of the best
qualified nutritionists in the Indonesian poultry feed business, and the first
woman at her polytechnic to gain a doctorate.

Her research abilities have
attracted laboratory equipment grants from the Asian Development Bank

She lives in a tiny house in high
cost East Nusa Tenggara and can only afford a motorbike. As a department head she gets Rp 9 million a
month (US $687). Yet by local academic standards
that’s a handsome wage.

The nervous students and their
awestruck parents surely think: ‘The rewards must be great to match the
prestige these learned ones bring to the institution and our nation’.

But without rich partners or politically powerful mates, chances are the
academics arrived at the ceremony straddling Hondas and enrobed in the staff toilet.

For Indonesia still doesn’t pay its scholars well or even appropriately,
according to English language lecturer Aam Alamsyah. He claims poor salaries
and conditions aren’t just crippling professionals’ careers; they are throttling
the nation’s advancement and international reputation.

Alamsyah (right) has been researching
employment conditions while studying for a doctorate in linguistics at Atma
Jaya Catholic University. He teaches at
private colleges in Jakarta and Tangerang and recently presented a paper on
tertiary education salaries at an international conference

In this he claimed some school
teachers were getting allowances and incentives which lifted their income above
higher qualified academics.

“University staff face many problems, and the most disturbing is their
remuneration,” he said. “Low wages run against workforce laws. They force
scholars to moonlight rather than concentrate on their students.”

Despite academics being considered important for Indonesia’s
development the government leaves pay in the hands of the institutions. Lecturers struggle on their own since there’s
no substantial legal body to defend their rights.

“Though faculties of business, engineering and information technology usually
offer more, many lecturers survive on less than Rp 3 million (US$228) a month,”
Alamsyah said.

That’s equal to the supposed minimal wage of an unskilled junior high
school graduate in a Jakarta sweatshop punching parts or packing plastics.

But universities are supposed to be temples of learning, not factories
rolling out identical gizmos. They never omit the comparative adjective when
describing their role as ‘higher educators’.

Alamsyah is not howling alone in the wilderness. Economist Jonathan
Pincus, a teaching fellow in the Development Studies Centre at Cambridge
University, wrote in this newspaper that ‘Indonesian lecturers are promoted
based on seniority rather than research or teaching performance.

‘The rules make it difficult for lecturers to change universities,
which effectively eliminate competition to hire the most productive scholars or
the best teachers. Academic departments routinely hire their own graduates as
lecturers, a practice that encourages patronage and favoritism and discourages
competition.’

Although Indonesia has around 2,800 tertiary institutions, few rank well.
The University of Indonesia just squeezes into the world’s top 400 as listed by
the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) annual report,
but the rest are still seeking the start line.

The production of scholarly
papers in learned journals recognized internationally is a handy guide to a
nation’s intellectual thrust. Indonesia
ranks 57, below Malaysia (35) and Thailand (43).

Bureaucrats love pasting letters
after their names. No public presentation by government officials is complete
without the speakers parading their Sarjana (Bachelor’s Degree) or Master of Management
(MM). However such qualifications may
indicate wealth rather than commitment to prolonged study; degrees are for sale
in Indonesia.

Last year the government started
cracking down on phony academies with Research, Technology and Higher Learning
Education Minister Mohammad Nasir leading raids on dodgy outfits.

But such is the demand that fines
of up to Rp 500 million (US $38,000) and five years in jail for individuals
using false certificates don’t seem to deter.

“Few campuses are willing to pay their lecturers to do research, or
even try to help them publish their work in journals,” Alamsyah said. “There are also private colleges and
universities using the notorious ‘home base’ racket.

“In this illegal scheme campuses offer small sums for the right to
include an academic’s name on their faculty list to meet staff quotas. They
blatantly neglect other aspects of lecturers’ welfare such as a basic salary,
overtime, research pay and health insurance.

“The wealthy and prestigious campuses usually spend as little as Rp 1 million
(US$76) for a doctoral graduate, and half that for a masters. School teachers and public servants are then hired
to lecture at low rates, but the teaching hours are credited to the ‘home base’
academic.”

Alamsyah’s wish list includes erasing this scam and the national
government getting tough over accrediting new colleges.

He wants salaries which recognise scholars’ qualifications and status,
and an end to student ‘tipping’ – a ruse he alleged is used to “respect the
noble deeds of the teacher”. These practices masquerade as ikhlas beramal (willing to donate) or sedekah (giving alms).

“Better remuneration will boost lecturers’ dignity and confidence to
serve their students without moonlighting or getting involved in graft,” he
said.

“There’s evidence of a strong correlation between improving education
and declining corruption. That alone
should be good reason for reform.”

Overseas pay

In countries like Australia with powerful unions, minimal academic
salaries are negotiated and set by legal awards with terms and conditions.

For example, an associate lecturer at the University of New South Wales
would start on an annual salary of AUD 70,000 (Rp 700 million) or about Rp 58
million a month.

In the US at the University of California an assistant professor gets
US$5,000 a month (Rp 66 million) while in the UK an academic at Cambridge might
begin at 3,300 pounds a month (Rp 60 million).

Although factors like tenure, insurance and costs of living can warp
these figures, academics in the West get paid well by comparison with their
colleagues in Indonesia.

For Berthold Damshäuser who teaches Indonesian language and
literature at the University of Bonn, the answer to the first question is: ‘Yes.
Indonesians are not great booklovers.’
He believes the prime reason is that the nation’s cultural traditions
are oral.

However a new chapter may be opening. Optimists say pages
are turning and cite a bookmark: Indonesia’s position as Guest of Honor at last
year’s Frankfurt International Book Fair, and a further appearance this year.

Damshäuser is also a prominent translator and with a group
of others compiled 33 Tokoh Sastra Indonesia
yang paling Berpengaruh (Thirty-three most influential figures in
Indonesian literature).

That sounds scholarly, reasonable and civilized. But budding
penmen and women – beware. The world of belles-lettres
is not beautiful; it’s more like nature – red in tooth and claw.

The academic was
attacked on Facebook where critics angry about inclusions and omissions claimed
the book should be burned and the author sent to Auschwitz, demonstrating a
history fail as the notorious concentration camp was closed in 1945.

Damshäuser used the anecdote at Malang State University’s
Café Pustaka Discussion Group to show young authors edging into the arts that literary
criticism and ranking writers is not a passion-free pastime – particularly for
outsiders.

That’s technically his status – but professionally and spiritually
he’s almost a bumiputera (native) with
four decades of archipelagic experience to reinforce the claim.

Jokingly known in
Indonesia as Pak Trum for reasons that would take several stanzas to explain, Damshäuser
is chief editor of Orientierungen, a
journal on Asian cultures and editor of Indonesian poetry magazine Jurnal Sajak.

He translates Indonesian poetry into German and vice versa,
often working with Bandung poet and author Agus R. Sarjono a former guest
writer at the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation’s retreat in Langenbroich. Together
they’ve put works by 19th century poet and philosopher Johann
Wolfgang (von) Goethe and others into the hands of Indonesians.

Despite efforts to boost interest in Europe, Indonesian
Studies and the language are wilting as elsewhere, including the nation’s
southern neighbor, Australia. Damshäuser
has only 60 undergraduates and five masters’ students.

“Pragmatically students are thinking that all the important
texts are in English so that’s the language they have to master or get their
friends to translate,” he said.

“I know it’s claimed that basic Indonesian is easy because
of a lack of tenses and genders, but it’s full of ambiguities. It’s a very difficult language if you want to
understand it properly.

“Take for example the term Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI-P – the major political
party in the Parliament.) Is it Indonesia or the party that’s
democratic? Where do I attach the
adjective? And who’s struggling? I’ve also had problems getting the meaning
right with clauses in Pancasila (the State philosophy).”

Now 59 Pak Trum first learned about the mysterious East
Indies as a teen laboring on the docks during university breaks. Also on the wharves were friendly Indonesians
who invited him to visit.

He did. “I thought it
a kind of paradise.” He fell in love not just with the country but also Jakartan
Dian Apsari. They married and settled in Bonn where Pak Trum consolidated his
reputation as a fluent Indonesian speaker and expert on its literature.

Although his skills were as a translator he was chosen to interpret
for the late President Soeharto during two visits to Germany, and two visits to
Indonesia by former Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

These garnered a wealth of anecdotes and friendships, with Damshäuser
invited to the homes of Soeharto and former vice president B J Habibie who had
been educated in Germany.

“Soeharto was always soft and polite towards me and his
staff,” he said. “I didn’t see him as a
monster. He felt that what he was doing
as president was right. He was not a strict Muslim but an abangan (a Javanese relaxed about religion) and he was proud of
that.”

Damshäuser is a regular visitor to Indonesia, sometimes
backed by the Goethe Institut, the
German cultural organisation and language school with branches in Jakarta and
Bandung.

From a culture of discipline, planning and punctuality to
laid back Indonesia hasn’t been an easy journey. When he started he asked: “How can I deal with this country?” The loving and hating lasted quite a long time…but
it’s no longer polarising.

“In Germany we celebrate the individual and the rights of
minorities,” he said. “I now see my
culture differently, and know that along the way we’ve lost a kind of
equilibrium that’s still present in Java.”

His experiences have been published this year as a
collection of essays - Ini dan itu Indonesia
– pandangan seorang Jerman (This and that in Indonesia – a German’s views.)

He said that during the Frankfurt Book Fair
the media called Indonesia ‘the country without readers’. Wikipedia
lists a total of 29 Indonesian poets past and present. Germany (population 80
million, one third of Indonesia’s) has 50 whose surnames start with A and
B.

Despite comments about the paucity of bibliophiles there
seems to be no shortage of poets in Malang. After his speech Damshäuser was busy
handling questions about topics, styles and getting into print.

“I’ve already been given four or five published
anthologies,” he said. “Among them are some very talented young writers often
using pantun the traditional
Malay oral expression.

(Pantun is a four-line verse
consisting of alternating and roughly rhyming lines, each of eight to 12
syllables. An example by Anon heads this story.)

“People want to hear the words. The poets write for their works to be
performed and getting books printed here is far cheaper than Europe. It seems
to me that there have never been so many books and so few readers.”

Thursday, December 01, 2016

Police cars were torched, tear gas sprayed and one man died
as a small gang stirred strife in the dark after most demonstrators had left
the scene.

The thuggery was incited by ‘political actors’ according to
President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo.

His explanation followed a tradition.

The Jakarta riots that triggered the fall of President
Soeharto in 1998 took the lives of more than a thousand citizens and destroyed
hundreds of shops. Many were owned by
Chinese businesspeople and their families, the prime target of mobs determined
to make mayhem.

The initiators were dubbed ‘dark forces’.

A year later in the distant Moluccas (the capital Ambon is 2,000
kilometers to the north-east of Jakarta) far more serious fighting erupted. Up to 15,000 may have died and 700,000 made
homeless before a formal peace agreement in 2002.

This civil war was widely portrayed as Christians versus
Muslims in an area where adherents of the two faiths had long lived together in
equal numbers and relative harmony.

No longer. An edgy return to some form of normality has been
achieved with the physical separation of residents according to their faiths.
This them-and-us arrangement is prone to rupture if poked and prodded by the
malicious.

The provokers were labelled ‘outside actors’.

On 5 November President Jokowi was on a teleconference call
to Indonesians in Sydney assuring them that the capital was calm and their
homeland safe. Most listeners would have
been ethnic Chinese studying or doing business in Australia and holding strong
memories of 1998.

If their skills and money stay away from the Republic the
government’s plans to develop the economy with large scale investments,
particularly in the President’s signature infrastructure projects could falter.
Chaos does nothing for business confidence.

In the Moluccan and Jakarta cases no one group has been
proved responsible for starting the fighting.
Instead the public has been told about phantom masterminds in theatrical
terms. Nudge-nudge, wink-wink blaming is not exclusively Indonesian; the French
term agents provocateurs is well
embedded in English.

Hints-not-facts sit awkwardly in modern societies that give
priority to openness, justice and reparation. These principles include exposing those out to
fracture peace, airing their motives, bringing them before the courts and
making them accountable.

However the explanations do fit Javanese cultural views
centered on the dalang puppet master
in the ancient wayang kulit epics.
These accounts of mystical beings pre-date the arrival of Abrahamic faiths in
the Archipelago.

The dalang is a deft
artist taking the roles of producer, director, stage manager, choreographer and
commentator. Performances may include references to current political dramas. He is heard but largely unseen.

He tosses and dances the elaborately crafted puppets before
a lamp so their images flicker across a white cotton screen. Although the wayang are physically two dimensional their characters are
multi-faceted and prone to devious twists and turns, leaving audience in states
of wonder, amusement and puzzlement.

The dalang and his
shadowy figures is the easily understood metaphor for any social drama where
the script is complex and performers devious.
But this doesn’t lead to a just resolution when the guilty remain as
ghosts.

Academics trying to understand the forces driving social unrest
are now moving onto the stage once filled by partisan politicians.

Among this small group of peace experts is cultural
anthropologist Dr Birgit Brauchler, formerly at Frankfurt’s Goethe University
and now a senior lecturer at Australia’s Monash University.

She’s been in Indonesia to talk about research into conflict
resolution; she studied the Moluccan conflict for a decade - how it came about
and what solutions worked, though none have been wholly successful.

When fighting flares the need to restore order is
urgent. In the usual pattern elite
troops, often from afar and with little knowledge of local sensitivities, are despatched.
They enforce peace by deploying more men with bigger guns and exercising greater
discipline than the troublemakers.

Eventually the smoke settles; the soldiers retreat to their
barracks and the job of patching the community’s wounds is left to others. Brauchler said that before the 1999 riots in
Ambon there were less than two dozen NGOs in the region. That number swelled to 400 though not all
were effective peacemakers.

The best involved a mix of locals often working in secret
and with women taking prominent roles.

Brauchler warned post-graduate peace studies students at
Malang’s Brawijaya University that there
were ‘no easy answers’ to the complex question: Why do some groups whet knives
to solve problems when it’s clear that combatants sooner or later must get back
to working and living together?

In her latest book The
Cultural Dimension of Peace she advocates a ‘new anthropology of peace’
where disciplines beyond law and political science get involved. She urges the creation of ‘peace scapes’ as
opposed to ‘war scapes … where the maintenance of peace becomes more lucrative
than war, and where such negotiation and communication can take place.’

The prohibitions were lifted with the re-introduction of
democracy this century but the power and will to stop community violence using
such emotional fuels has yet to be effectively applied.

Political scientists believe allowing orderly dissent is
essential for a balanced society, and President Jokowi has agreed in the right
to peaceful protest. But he has yet to
discover the sweet spot between Soeharto’s authoritarianism and the current
tension.

He promised to reveal the ‘political actors’ though so far
has stayed silent. Military Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo has stepped in to
suggest US and Australian involvement, though without producing evidence.

Refusing to identify and isolate those alleged to be
responsible is not assisting reconciliation, while mystery references just
shower all players with suspicion.

(First published in Strategic Review 30 November 2016. See: http://sr-indonesia.com/web-exclusives/view/the-politics-of-puppetry

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Greening is the now color for Corporate Social Responsibility
projects – provided the manicured park is well exposed for the company’s care to
be advertised. But for closeted kampongs
forget CSR. Duncan Graham reports on a Do It Ourselves deal that organizers
want others to see and follow:

Civilisations benchmark their birth with momentous events.
Muslims use AH Anno Hegirae, the year of Hijra when the Prophet went from Mecca
to what is now Medina.

Christians favor BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini),
the year of the Lord.

Secular scientists prefer BP (Before the Present). For
Indonesian environmentalists this stands for Before Plastic when wrappings were
organic.

“Getting people to stop using our rivers for their rubbish
is difficult,” admitted community leader Nurcholis. “We hang signs
everywhere. We talk about it whenever we
can. But we cannot use laws and threats.
They don’t work.

“The way is to go gracefully and set an example.”

Nurcholis and his colleagues have followed his advice. He heads the largest of eight RT (Rukun Tetangga – neighborhood
administration units) flanking the Amprong River in Kedung Kandang on Malang’s
outskirts.

Last October after
months of discussion they made a big decision: to tackle the eyesore levee
built long ago to floodproof their kampong. The depressing sight greeting
riverside residents was a long, barren, dusty and rubbish-strewn barricade.

Massive river-taming by the Irrigation Department in the 1980s
with rock and concrete walls had largely eliminated the need for the levee. The last flood was in 1995 but the ugly earthworks
were too big to shift.

Kedung Kandang doesn’t belong in the nation’s much-hyped
middle class luring investors. This is Struggle Street, Forgetville where no incomes
are disposable. But that doesn’t mean its tenants don’t deserve a decent
environment.

Though no local had ever wandered the world’s glamor waterfronts,
why not turn the embankment into an educational area and promenade like Shanghai’s
Bund or Singapore’s Marina Bay? Maybe
even the Left Bank in Paris minus the bars and hedonism for this is East Java
and “99 per cent” of the kampong’s 800 are Muslim according to Nurcholis.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was.

Winning a Rp 16 million (US $1,225) government grant for
cement and bricks helped. So did labor
supplied by soldiers drafted to provide kerja
bakti (community service). Then
followed the ancient principle of gotong
royong (citizen self help).

Hundreds scrounged and recycled for playground gear, gazebos
and park benches creating style inconsistencies that are more amusing than
annoying. Time in the shade can be spent guessing the provenance of renovated
iron and painted pipes, paving slabs and split bamboo.

Lion statues are a favorite as locals are 100 per cent
backers of the Arema Football Club with its Leo symbol. There’s even a Hindu-style
sculpture.

Professional park managers frequently favor monoculture flower
beds in geometrical shapes rare in nature.
But here the donated bushes, flowers and trees have come from everywhere
to make a rich mix.

The other factor,
whispered rather than shouted in a cooperative project, is the creative competition
between RTs.

The park is never more than 10 meters wide. It meanders for
about 400 meters with individual sections marrying, though there’s no
sameness. Everyone knows who did what
and how good it looks.

Agus Surahman, a RW (rukun
warga – a step up from RT), said no commercial companies had offered to
assist, so no advertising making their secluded park unusual.

High visibility parks in Malang have been sponsored by
cosmetic and food companies – ironically even a tobacco factory - keen to link
their products with healthy lifestyles.

“When there’s an event we collect Rp 10,000 (US$0.80) from
each family to pay for costs,” Nurcholis said.
“People who live here are drivers, factory workers and cleaners, but
some have made bigger donations – including four boats.”

For Rp 15,000 (US$1.15) an hour families and couples can
have a row on the river and enjoy the ambience as the fashionable do in
London’s regal gardens and New York’s Central Park.

By Western standards muddy Amprong is no freshet. It’s not just plastic that’s a problem. Cemeteries
dot the riverbanks. Road waste drains into the river, used daily by people
without access to bathrooms, toilets and laundries.

Fortunately heavy wet-season rains keep it moving. All houses in the kampong are said to use
septic tanks, but overflows must reach the river.

Choirul, 32, a coconut drink seller, wants to take the
project further with a flying fox across the river and murals on the rockwork.

That way he hopes upriver residents will copy their example: “Then there’ll be less rubbish to pick out
when the waters reach us,”

Locals say the do-it-yourself park has reduced friction
because there’s space for all activities, including growing vegetable in the
river mud. Though no-one says so aloud,
the park invites romance. Watching water flow encourages philosophical musings.

“There have been other advantages,” said Nurcholis’ wife Nur
Rochma. “Young people now have somewhere to go and things to do. It’s much
better here now than hanging around in shopping malls. It’s given our communities a center.”

(Breakout)

Food bowl

The Amprong is a major feeder into the 320-kilometer long Brantas,
the Nile of East Java.

Second to the 600 kilometer-long Solo River (half in East
Java), Brantas is a most curious waterway.
Sustained by 1,500 mountain streams and lowland channels known as anak-anak Brantas (children of Brantas), it heads
for the Indian Ocean – a logical direction because that’s the nearest exit.

Then it turns west, then north. On maps it looks much like a diagram of the
human alimentary canal – which is apt.

After running hither and yon draining a catchment 17 times
bigger than Singapore island it empties into the Java Sea near Surabaya.

Brantas sustains mega millions by watering the flatlands it
traverses. This is the province’s major
food bowl. It also supplies power
through nine hydroelectric stations built during the Soeharto years, industrial
and household water and fish.

Waeman, 61, who worked for the Irrigation Department for 37 years,
said managing flows was “very difficult … it runs cold but farmers run hot when
they don’t get enough water.

Outsiders should visit
early Sunday mornings when locals set up colorful food and drink stalls; the
public is invited to jump up and down to
loud music or promenade nibbling a fresh tempe (soybean) cake. The big
companies may not be interested but here’s a chance to see how communities can
make a difference – and what gotong royong means. Kedung Kandang is 10 km east of central
Malang

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

All this month six years ago Yogyakarta and surrounds were
on red alert as Merapi blew 38 meters off its peak, bringing it down to 2,930.
The nation’s most active volcano threatens regularly forcing evacuations. Should outsiders get involved? Duncan
Graham reports.

Once it was a sure portent of troubles to come – eagles
soaring higher than normal above Central Java’s ferocious and fickle ‘fire
mountain’.

Villagers on the slopes below knew this could prelude black pyroclastic
clouds as the rising heat created thermals for the birds to spiral to new
heights. But the Javan Hawk Eagle -
Indonesia’s national bird - is now rare; there are fewer than 350 breeding
pairs left in the wild and extinction expected in a decade.

With the passing of the raptors goes local wisdom that has
helped generations cope with the violence of nature. Both are irreplaceable.

So no avian early-warning system for threatened
farmers. Now they rely on official
alarms provided by government scientists they seldom trust, according to French
author Elizabeth Inandiak (above)..

“Villagers tend to be suspicious of authorities,” she said.
“That’s why they are often reluctant to leave their homes in an emergency. They are landless agricultural workers but
their tenure is through adat
(customary law) and fear official agencies won’t recognise their ownership when
they return. And few want to be shifted
elsewhere.”

Inandiak, now 57, is no ingénue. She’s lived in Central Java
since 1989 studying language and culture.

Yet she was still surprised by local resilience and
ingenuity following the May 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake which killed 5.700 and
injured 37,000. Earlier that month Merapi had erupted and 11,000 were
evacuated.

Among the many devastated villages was Bebekan, about 20
kilometers south west of Yogya. Two of
the 400 residents were killed and several injured. The writer’s house was not
damaged but she was asked to help by one of the women made homeless.

“How could I not get involved,” said Inandiak. “The need was overwhelming and I had contacts
in Europe who could donate.”

Within days the Euros started to flow and the European
transplant was thrust into a new role.
She was already well known in the academic community as translator into
French of the almost forgotten Serat
Centhini.

This is the Javanese epic of 17th century life
first published in the 19th century and known to some as the Kama
Sutra of Java for its erotic passages.

Her work won prizes in France including the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight
of the Legion of Honor) for services to literature and improving
Franco-Indonesian relations.

But for seven years after the earthquake she gave up writing
to be involved with community work. She
broke the drought this year with her novel
Babad Ngalor-Ngidul (the chronicle of pointless pursuits) based around the
eruptions of Merapi and the myths of the mountain which last erupted in 2014.

Along the way she climbed a steep learning curve experiencing
the emotions of recovery from overwhelming disaster; she saw how people respond
in good and bad ways to great stress and grew frustrated with the politics of
international aid delivery.

She has harsh words for development agencies’ bureaucratic
procedures and expenditure priorities, though not for emergency services or the
motives of individuals drawn to help.

Her advice to helpers: “Don’t ask what people need – ask
what they wish for … listen to those wishes and respond.

“Use local skills. Never promise more than you can deliver.
Women are the key figures in the community.

“Some of the reconstruction is of intangibles – like
spiritual connections and cultural practices including as music and art. These might seem impractical when people are
homeless, but they are necessary. Recovery
has to be holistic.”

While the people of Bebekan and hundreds of other hamlets
were sheltering under sheets of iron from ash and rain, agency staff were
staying in the Hyatt in Yogyakarta “where one night costs more than rebuilding
a house”, though to be fair few hotels were open after the quake.

Pledged Indonesian government re-building grants did not arrive. At the time she wrote: ‘the people of Bebekan
do not expect anything from this promise. They still haven't received the
survival allowance due to any victim of the earthquake (Rp 90,000 (US $7) and
ten kilos of rice per month, and which has already been distributed in many
other districts’.

Inandiak shared some of her insights with students, staff
and others at Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University where she spoke last month
(Oct) at a conference on responses to human crises.

Her message was ultimately positive – though not in the way
aid agencies like to tell with happy snaps of jolly kids and contented Moms
admiring a new well head courtesy of taxpayers in developed nations far away.

“They are not victims but survivors,” Inandiak said. “They have sovereignty over their land. They are not going to be objects of
NGOs. They need to decide themselves how
and when reconstruction starts.

“They didn’t want the army to get involved because they
might lose their surviving possessions and building materials that could be
re-used. Salvaging was the people’s responsibility.”

With 9,000 Euros (then about Rp 150 million) mainly donated
by French artists, 85 houses were built in less than two months. Inandiak credits this extraordinary
achievement to gotong royong
(community self help): “I was amazed –
these people had globalization within themselves.

“The people who once thought they had no history were
restoring Bebekan to the pages of history.”

But along with a slow recovery to some sense of normality
came the return of individual egos.
“Getting money is not the real difficulty,” she said. “The main problem
is human conflict with maybe 70 per cent of time spent trying to resolve issues,
even though people greet each other and shake hands regularly to keep the
social network intact.”

Sands deposits from the eruption brought contractors from
afar, but the locals wanted the deposits left alone. More confrontations.

“To help in these extreme situations you need a serving
attitude,” she said. “Be prepared to undergo a mental revolution.”

Monday, November 14, 2016

During his visit last year to the
United States President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo suddenly started singing
enthusiasm for multinational Free Trade Agreements.

He told American businesses that Indonesia
had an ‘open economy’ with a large and hungry population so intended to join
the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He’d been
persuaded that this would also seduce foreign investors.

The TPP had taken years to
orchestrate. Twelve nations representing
around 40 per cent of the world’s GDP had agreed to join. Jokowi thought a
place in the choir alongside Malaysia, Singapore and other neighbors was a
smart idea, although the Archipelago has long chanted protectionism.

In the following months nervous political
and economic advisers composed a revised songsheet. By February this year the President was
humming a different tune in a lower key.

During another US trip he released
his new TPP album – Fading Love. The
lyrics included ‘caution is of the utmost importance … everything must be
calculated for the sake of national interests. It’s all still in process.'

In a backing track the then Trade
Minister Thomas Lembong chorused that his leader’s original enthusiasm was ‘to
improve our economy and create jobs’.

FTA opponents disagree; they
claim agreements favor efficient producers like Australian wheatgrowers and Chinese
steelmakers, but can damage importing nations.
They get lower prices but at the cost of local jobs. Slack businesses demand compensation or fail.

Indonesia’s State Owned
Enterprises, known for poor management, lack of competitiveness and allegedly as
‘wet areas’ (where corrupt politicians and bureaucrats can prosper) feel
threatened by FTAs

Some of this is now academic as US
President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll rip up all TPP negotiations authorized
by President Barack Obama.

This gets Jokowi off the hook on
which he’d hung himself last year. But then
came another twist.

Before abruptly changing his mind about visiting Canberra this month,
allegedly because of violent demonstrations in Jakarta, the President told journalists
of plans for his official three-day agenda Down Under.

Top was trade and sealing the Indonesia Australia - Comprehensive
Economic Partnership Agreement by the end of 2017. Another surprise – discussions on this deal
only restarted in March after stalling for three years because political
tensions were high.

Harvard-educated Lembong, a former investment banker who now chairs the
Investment Coordinating Board (BPKM), has the task of meeting the deadline. He’ll
get no opposition from Australia.

Trade Minister Steve Ciobo says signing the agreement will be his ‘most
significant priority’ while the Indonesia-Australia Business Partnership Group
has pledged enthusiastic support

Small wonder; Indonesia’s expanding middle class market is tipped to
reach 140 million consumers with tastes for beef and bread by the end of this
decade provided trade barriers don’t rise.

In its paper Two
Neighbors: Partners in Prosperity the Group said trade and investment is
underperforming. ‘Given the proximity and size of the Indonesian and Australian
economies … there are vast untapped areas of complementarity (sic) and
potential.’

According to Australia’s Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Republic is the island continent’s 12th
largest trade partner, mainly importing wheat, beef and sugar.

Indonesia sells oil and some manufactured
goods. Total two-way trade is worth
about AUD $15 billion (US $11.4 billion). One trade agreement is already in place embracing Australia, New Zealand
and ASEAN nations, including Indonesia.

‘The president’s leadership style and decision-making
process are unpredictable. Jokowi surrounds himself with very different kinds
of economic thinkers. At times he embraces the ideas of pro-market advisors,
but then pursues statist-nationalist policies endorsed by his personal
partisans.’

Free trade sounds like a fine
idea – nations sell to and buy from each other in an open market without tariffs,
taxes and other impediments. There are compounding factors in play, like
subsidies and dumping of surplus goods, but goo deals can satisfy customers wanting
low prices.

Those consumers are also workers. If their employers turn off lathes because they
can’t compete against Chinese low-cost sweatshops they get grumpy. In democracies that anger can threaten
politicians, as Hillary Clinton knows well.

FTAs are particularly sensitive
in agriculture. Food security is a political issue in Indonesia where a proverb
says ‘a meal without rice is not a meal’. Annual personal consumption of around
114 kilograms can no longer be met by local farmers.

So stocks of the nation’s staple
carbohydrate held by state agency Bulog (the Bureau
of Logistics) are being topped up with imports from Thailand.

Production in the Kingdom is largely mechanised with combines and
bulk-load trucks moving the crop from paddy to mill. In Indonesia the rural scene is more Middle Ages
with workers cutting and threshing by hand, then carting by bike.

If these laborers lost their jobs through a FTA they’d face
limited alternative employment. According to the World Bank 70 per cent of
Indonesia’s poor (earning less that US $2 a day), live in the countryside.

FTA at the vegie roots level

Ibu Wasita has little interest in international agreements but her
suppliers, who are mainly her friends, could be victims. She currently sells two types of carrots from
her vegetable stall in Malang’s Oro-Oro Dowo traditional market.

The cheaper, uneven ones cost Rp
8,000 (US $0.60) a kilogram. They were grown in Batu on the cooler flanks of
Mount Welirang.

The other carrots are evenly
graded, clean and trimmed of leaves. They are packed in plastic and cost almost
twice as much. They come from China and
appeal to choosy buyers.

Also from Batu are apples. Just one variety, Manalagi for Rp 20,000 (US $1.50) a kilo. They are blemished and to modern palates more
billiard balls than Eve’s offering. But
in the supermarkets there’s a wide choice of plump, quality fruit – from China,
the US and New Zealand.

The prices are higher but the polished
apples roll off the shelves into high-end shoppers’ trolleys. Should FTAs get signed with Australia and
other countries prices will tumble – but Indonesian farmers’ incomes will
shrink if they don’t change their production and marketing practices.

Batu is Central East Java’s vegetable
garden. It’s also a weekend escape for
the well-off, so a hotel and entertainment park construction boom is underway. For every 10,000 square meters flooded with
concrete there’s one hectare less to grow food.

It’s a pattern across Java as the
national population is tipped to rise from the present 260 million to more than
320 million by 2050.

Australian pens are poised to
sign an agreement. However Lembong –
dubbed by the Australian media as an ‘apostle of liberalisation’ - will find it
near impossible to persuade Indonesian politicians to ink any document seen as
threatening jobs.

First published in Strategic Review 14 November 2016. See/sr-indonesia.com/web-exclusives/view/a-ballad-of-free-trade

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has cited security
concerns in Jakarta to cancel this week’s visit to Australia. Duncan
Graham has doubts.

As political sport the Friday 4 November Jakarta demo was
generally a crowd pleaser, though the off-field ending was bad. Hours after the
6 pm whistle and with most supporters in their divine white heading home, the
hoon minority torched police cars before being teargassed. One man died apparently from an asthma attack,
a dozen hospitalised.

With estimates of 150,000 (1.5 per cent of Jakarta’s
population) on the streets stoked by firebrands claiming the Deity needs
protection from real or imagined insults, the protest against Christian
Governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Purnama could have been far worse.

No gunfire, no bombs and only one shop looted. If correct all credit to the religious and
civil authorities – particularly the police who used sex to cool conflict.

Prominently placed officers in jilbab (headscarves) showed the cops weren’t faithless. The tactic was less spiritual than carnal. Indonesian policewomen get picked more for beauty
than brawn.

The distraction worked with ogling lads taking breaks from
fist-thrusting for selfies with the girls in green. During the first round New York Times correspondent Joe Cochrane tweeted:

‘I think ‘political stunt’ is more accurate.
Vast majority of protestors paid teenagers, and not even from Jakarta. No
voters.More. Impact on Ahok close to zero. A mere sideshow’.

Jokowi was inspecting an airport project while the march was
underway. So why use it as an excuse to duck his trip Down Under? His minders may have feared exposure to West
Papua independence protestors – but that was always possible.

More likely is that he just changed his mind –he’s well
known for no-shows. For all the warm
words about relationships in the interviews before departure he’s no
internationalist. The timing was ridiculous coinciding with the US election
pushing positive publicity off page and screen.

Friday’s demo was billed as the Islam Defenders’ Front (FPI)
grand final spectacular. They promised mayhem
but couldn’t deliver.

Their antics are becoming tiresome. Disruptions beyond traffic snarls and flooding
are no longer tolerable. They claim
holiness but are just pseudo-religious thugs.

Apart from Ahok few have dared challenge the FPI’s
legitimacy, which explains their hate. Unfortunately Jokowi’s cancellation gives them
status that on current information they don’t deserve.

Columnist Julia Suryakusuma has likened FPI followers to
plane passengers preferring an incompetent Muslim pilot than a qualified
Christian even as disaster looms.

Posters at the demo demanding Ahok’s death were
exceptional. Most wanted him charged
with blasphemy which may well happen. There was nothing against Jokowi who
retains widespread support.

Gubernatorial elections will be held in February. A need to
stay at home then might make sense – but not now.

Ahok is smart, tough, loose-tongued, an effective reformer -
but hobbled by his Protestant faith and Chinese ethnicity. His main threat is
former Education Minister Anies Baswedan, an Islamic intellectual supported by
retired General Prabowo Subianto’s Gerindra
(Greater Indonesia) Party.

The President and Ahok are PDI-P (Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle) mates from when Jokowi was governor and Ahok his sidekick.

Jokowi’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has his
son Agus Harimurti, 38, in the three-way contest to run the capital.
Commentators give the colourless US educated Army major no chance.

Jakarta shenanigans aren’t yet in the Trump-Clinton septic swamp
but they are getting smelly. Religion was a cert to smear – the only question
was how.

Ahok helped by commenting on a Koranic verse said to
prohibit Muslims being led by a kafir (unbeliever). He allegedly used the word dibohongi (lied) giving the FPI a hook
to hang an insulter of the Holy Book.

If jailed for blasphemy he’ll be out of the race, so all may
not be as it seems on the surface.

In his post match analysis Jokowi praised daytime discipline
but condemned faceless ‘political actors’ manipulating the after-hours brawl. This is a timeworn standard like ‘Canberra
mandarins’ in Australian politics.

During the demo in 30 degree heat FPI organisers who’d
bussed in outsiders handed out thousands of drinks and snacks – but wouldn’t
name the donors. SBY reacted furiously to suggestions his Democratic Party
was the bankroller.

Three days before kick-off Jokowi went to see Prabowo at
his ‘residential retreat’ aka ‘spacious ranch’ in Bogor south of Jakarta.

For those unfamiliar with Indonesian culture the president knocking
on his former rival’s gate was bewildering, but to Javanese it made sense. Maintaining harmony and staying polite are
essential virtues; Jokowi sought support to hose down possible violence at the
demo and lost no votes by taking the initiative.

Prabowo supported calls for calm: “We are a plural country with many tribes,
religions and races,” he said. “If we have problems, let’s solve them
peacefully”.

Jokowi also got backing from the
Indonesia Scholars’ Council (MUI) and the two main Islamic organisations, Nahdlatul
Ulama and Muhammadiyah “to maintain unity and guard against
those who want to dividethe country”.

These meetings helped frame the demo not as a xenophobic rant
(though much was) but as democratic expression.

The media tag of Indonesia as the world’s most populous
Islamic nation suggests faith rules. However the Republic is not an Islamic
state. Secular parties like the PDIP regularly trounce faith-based contestants.

The biggest flag at the demo was a sportsfield-sized red and
white. The country is stable, the leader loved. Cabinet is under control,
Parliament passive and the police more professional. So what’s to fear with a quick call on the neighbours? Doesn’t he like us?

MEETING JOKO WIDODO

We were privileged to meet Joko Widodo in his hometown of Solo where his duties include directing traffic

DAILY DUTIES

Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) daily activity list for kids

ENTERPRISING KIDS

One of the annoyances in Malang are the unemployed youth wandering the streets strumming guitars to get a handout - usually paid to ensure they go away and aren't scouting for unlocked gates and open windows. But these two kids, Fansa, 11 and Angga, 12, seem to be the genuine thing with their home made instruments. They tend to average Rp 30,000 (AUD $3) an afternoon which they say they give to their Mum as her income only comes from washing other people's clothes. The music was, well ... better than that offered by the teenage louts

DI SINI, DI SANA

REVEALING COMMENT

Something to ponder for those who think aid is the way to friendship and understanding. From an AAP report used in an SBS story on 25 November: (emphasis mine)

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry's Asia Pacific director-general Yuri Thamrin, who also relayed concerns to the ambassador last week, on Tuesday called for Australia's relationship with Indonesia to take on greater respect and equality.

Issues of sovereignty were "very important", he said, as well as open communication and co-operation.

"For us, if we had to choose, respect and equality is much, much more important than assistance and needs."

PRABOWO'S GUERRILLA CAMPAIGN

The fears we held are being realised. Prabowo is more than just a poor loser, he's a vindictive one. At 2 am on 26 September the DPR (Legislative Assembly) voted to scrap the people's rights to vote for their local population. Prabowo's Merah-Putih (red and white) coalition holds almost two-thirds of the house seats.

As usual Elisabeth Pisani, US / UK scientist / journalist and perceptive observer of Indonesia has produced a robust report that pulls much of the commentary together: http://indonesiaetc.com/undermining-indonesian-democracy-last-gasp-or-a-sign-of-things-to-come/

TIME FOR A COLD SHOWER

At last it's dawning that Jokowi is not the new messiah, but the Accidental President who has already causing concern by appointing the former Intelligence (BIN) chief Hendropriyono as an adviser. What's the man allegedly linked to the assassination of human rights activist Munir aboard a Garuda jet heading for Holland doing in the Jokowi camp? Serious worries here.Articulating the realities is this piece from ANU's Stephen Sherlock first published in the New Mandala. I particularly like his line about 'presidential vanity parties.' Why didn't I think of that?MAINTAINING THE RAGE

Saved by religion! Prabowo's rant on finding he's not beloved by the majority (46.85 per cent to Jokowi's 53.15 - about eight million votes) was muted by the roar of almost 30 million motorbikes taking the faithful back to their villages in the annual mudik (exodus) following the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadhan.We now wait the verdict of the Constitutional Court. Most Western commentators reckon there's little or no chance of the verdict being overthrown - if so, what happens then? Some, like veteran human rights advocate Pat Walsh remain up beat. See his comments here. However you need a really rosy view of Indonesian politics to imagine Prabowo will tell the 65 million who voted for him to go home and accept the democratic decision. He's not the sort of guy to accept defeat graciously - just like his colleagues in East Timor in 1999. Faced with a 4 to 1 vote for independence in the referendum, the army pulled out burning and destroying everything they could touch.

CHEERING

Here's another positive take on the Jokowi win from veteran scholar Gerry Van Klinken in New Matilda. Read it hereSeems like I'm a lone voice of pessimism fearing Prabowo is a corpse that won't lie down I hope I'm wrong.

IRRITANTS

Perceptive academic and commentator Dr Dave McRae ponders a Jokowi government's attitude towards its southern neighbour here.The major irritant is not the spying allegations of 2013, but Australia's perceived pro-Israel bias in the Gaza conflict. Palestine is big news in Indonesia and so is support. Not all Australians back the Israeli assault on Gaza - but that news doesn't get into the archipelago.

RADICAL EMPATHY

I continue to be concerned that the ghastly situation in Gaza will come to infect Oz-RI relations because we are seen as pro-Israel and consequently anti-Palestine. The perception that Canberra is a branch office for Washington's international policy doesn't help either.There's little to read that's positive other than this piece from The Washington Post by Rabbi Jill Jacobs, calling for radical empathy and which starts with her visit to Indonesia. No need to go to Jakarta to encounter anti-Israeli propaganda - there's a big spanduk (banner) across a mosque wall not far from where we live.

ARCHIPELAGO AND AUSTRALASIA

Oct - Malang, Yogya, Solo. Nov NZ

QUOTE - UNQUOTE

DIFFERENT CULTURE, DIFFERENT WAYS

Lombok investor Jean-Marc Reynier on doing business in Indonesia, as reported in Indonesia Expat (2 May 16): Reynier admits that doing business on the island is challenging, particularly for expats. According to him, there are some unwritten rules that foreign entrepreneurs should be aware of.

Failure to abide by these rules may result in foreign business owners packing their bags and heading home.

Reynier says one of the most important things to understand is the local culture. “Many foreigners fail to adjust and adapt to local customs and the strong community-based way of thinking,” he says, adding that the local work ethic is low, as family ties and peace in the community are cultural fundamentals. Most often, this means conflict is avoided at all costs, which can lead to project delays.

“Getting angry at people or losing your temper is seen as unacceptable, too. Everything should be done to preserve the consensus and harmony. So things will never move as fast as you can, and you can lose a lot […] if you get upset with the wrong people, or make them lose face,” explains Reynier. “Patience is something you have to learn if you want to deal with Lombok locals.”

Apart from understanding the local culture, entrepreneurs are also strongly advised to give back to the community. “Most local people are fishermen or farmers. They have not been exposed to fast-growing business. They quickly resent the fact that someone [can] accumulate assets and money without giving back to the community. You need to mingle into the community as much as you can, and you need to contribute strongly.”

"Overall, I see this plan as positive," Eric Alexander Sugandi, an economist with the Jakarta-based think tank Kenta Institute, told the Jakarta Globe.

Still, he said such revisions might not immediately attract investors as the list revision will only be one of the factors investors take into consideration before pouring money into a country like Indonesia.

According to Eric, foreign investors also take into consideration demand, the stability of the rupiah, certainty in local business regulations — which includes possible legal disputes and workforce problems — and the availability of decent infrastructure.

Driyarkara Uni academic B Herry-Priyano:

In an oft-cited dictum of obscure origin, it is said that a good and effective leader embodies the paradoxical characters of God: fascinosum et tremendum (fascinating and frightening). The former refers to the qualities that are alluring, the latter menacing.

The two are integral to statecraft, precisely because the human citizens to be governed all have the potential to ascend to become “angels” and equally to descend into “beasts”; the former to be moved by persuasion, the latter by coercion. This is also true of the way a country’s president needs to deal with his staff.

What is all this to do with Jokowi’s leadership? It is increasingly clear that his leadership is affable yet in need of a more commanding style, considerate yet lacking incisiveness, conciliatory yet not sufficiently compelling. In short, his leadership may have the quality of the fascinosum but not enough of the tremendum.

In particular, the way he deals with those around him is in dire need of major adjustment. Some of his ministers clearly show him no respect. That is why his cabinet often resembles a house of disorder. - See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/16/waiting-a-spark-leadership-a-national-vocation.html#sthash.KIzXSPlG.dpuf

In the execution wash-up two commentaries are outstanding. Both were first published in The Guardian.

Journalist Gay Alcorn's compelling piece here put an end to the mealy-mouthed apologia that's marked so much of the feedback.

We are told we must speak gently and politely while Indonesian gunmen murder men tied to posts. We must respect sovereign rights, which seem to trump human rights. We must not interfere in another nation's business. Remind me - wan't Indonesia also up there with other civilised nations condemning South Africa's apartheid laws?

If we'd followed the popular prescription mouthed by Indonesian ministers Nelson Mandela would have died in jail and segregation would have still been present.

Editorial in The Jakarta Globe 24 April 2015

Do the Right Thing and show mercy, Mr President

A day that no rational, compassionate human being could ever wish for appears to be at hand: the day that 10 fellow human beings, nine of them foreign nationals, are gunned down in a hail of bullets because the Indonesian government wants to make a barbarous point.

The Attorney General’s Office, which seems to be taking an awful lot of pleasure in organizing the executions, has summoned officials from foreign embassies to the prison island of Nusakambangan on Saturday. The AGO is required to give the inmates 72 hours’ notice about their execution, so it appears that the killings — yes, killings; make no mistake, this is state-sanctioned murder — could take place as soon as Tuesday.

But the AGO has said it will carry out the executions once all the inmates’ appeals have been exhausted. And one of the 10, Indonesian Zainal Abidin, still has an appeal to be heard on Monday.

If, as appears likely, Zainal avoids the firing squad at the last minute, the government will have confirmed what everyone already suspects: that the executions are a stunt — bloody and grotesque — to impress upon the rest of the world the Indonesian government’s disturbingly nationalist bent.

Why persist with a practice as savage as the death penalty when much of the world cries out against it? What can Indonesia gain from this?

It is in the president’s power to end this shameful travesty and grant these individuals clemency. So it is to President Joko Widodo that we beseech mercy for Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso; for Serge Areski Atlaoui; for Myuran Sukumaran; for Andrew Chan; for Rodrigo Gularte; for Raheem Agbaje Salami; for Martin Anderson; for Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise; for Okwudili Oyatanze; and for Zainal Abidin.

We stand for mercy, Mr. President. Will you stand with us?

CONGRATULATIONS

Professor David Hill who has dome more than most to try and improve ties between Australia and Indonesia through the ACICIS consortium, has been recognised with an Order of Australia (AO). He writes: It is a great honour – and hopefully an opportunity to focus some attention on the value to Australia (and to Indonesia) of having Australian students spending part of their studies in Indonesian universities.

Veteran journalist Graeme Dobell, who works with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has written a marvellously cynical guide to understanding politics. Although focused on Canberra it applies anywhere. Read it hereSPEAK UP

Another voice calling for the silent majority to speak. This time it's the editor of The Jakarta Post,Meidyatama Suryodiningrat reflecting on 2014:

The quiet acquiescence so common among Indonesia’s moderate majority must be galvanized to directly oppose those who think themselves pious by calling others deviant and the imposition of any single institution as a sole authority of religious interpretation. - Read more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/28/view-point-an-editor-s-farewell-year-living-restlessly.html#sthash.7yipX2yz.dpuf

GOOD QUESTION

Lot's of tripe and onions after the Martin Place hostage taking. Was he a terrorist or just a nutter? A lone wolf following a crazed scrip written by haters, or a common criminal? Ross Taylor, president of the Indonesian Institute added some wise words to the debate:

As we head into 2015 our region, and World, faces some extreme challenges on a number of fronts. Most obvious is the rise-and-rise of what people refer to as 'extremist Islam' such as ISIL and its offshoots. A number of thoughtful Muslim leaders feel that in many cases Islam has been simply hijacked by despot regimes made-up of bitter and dis-affected people. This is a valid point , but the challenge for Muslim leaders around the world is: what are you going to do about it?

WISH I'D SAID THAT...

George Orwell is alive and well, living in Bangkok and still writing. Here's proof

The 18th century English-American philosopher, political writer, theorist, and activist Thomas Paine:

"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason... is like administering medicine to the dead,"

A most useful quote remembered by liberal Islamic scholar Dr Ulil Absahr Abdalla after being banned from Malaysia where he'd been invited to talk on intolerance.

THE ACT OF KILLING

I've agreed not to review Joshua Oppenheimer's extraordinary film about the post coup d'etat slaughter before it's shown at the NZ film festival, but for an academic analysis of the times see Benedict Anderson's Reflections on the 1965 Massacre to be found here

ROMANTICIZING THE AUTHORITARIAN PAST

A valuable analysis in the WSJ's Op Ed page outlining the worries shared by many - that democracy hasn't delivered, politicians don't perform and there's a wistful(and worrying) backwards look to the Soeharto era. The feature concludes:

While there is much to celebrate about Indonesia since 1998, the old elite are like baleful ghosts from the Suharto era, holding Indonesiaback from realizing its full potential. Now that the dictator has been gone for a decade and a half, it's time for a new generation of votersand reformers to exorcise the country's illiberal forces once and for all.

Indonesia is a big winner in the Federal budget with an extra $100 million, making our neighbour the main beneficiary of our largesse with $650 million this year,

But development consultant Robert Cannon has doubts about its effectiveness, as he told ABC Radio. Listenhere

EVEN HANDED

It's difficult to be even-handed about faith issues, but La Trobe's Professor Dennis Altman makes some fine points in an essay on discrimination, Islamophobia and Australian politics. Here's a sample from The Conversation:

As soon as religions start trying to impose their views on non-believers they have crossed the line that makes a truly democratic and liberal society possible, but while this is seized upon where Muslims are concerned it is largely ignored when Christians do the same.

Yes, according to political researcher Bawono Kumoroof the Habibie Center in a lucid commentary published in the Eurasia Review:

'Muslims in Indonesia, slowly but surely, have grown and developed to become a rational, autonomous and progressive community. They have started to be able to think rationally and critically especially when they are facing the political and religious elite, which tends to be intrusive, manipulative and exploitative'. Read more here

(B J Habibie was Indonesia's third president)

CORRUPTION (Again - surprise!)

"No country with such a high degree of corruption has been able to become truly prosperous, democratic and equitable." That's according to economist Thee Kian Wie writing in the East Asia Forum about Indonesia. Read his complete analysis here

ROBUST APPRAISAL

I don't know fellow Western Australian Gary Dean, formerly active with the ALP now seeking Indonesian citizenship. However I'm impressed by his CV, experience in Indonesia and particularly this quote about doing business in Indonesia:

Overlaid onto this is a predacious and xenophobic culture within the apparatus of the Indonesian state, with the politicians, bureaucrats, police and military, assuming that the world owes them something, foreigners in particular. Does the average Indonesian bureaucrat care about foreign investment? No, they truly do not. And in fact, may well view it with suspicion.

YES, IT’S SERIOUS – HERE’S PROOF

A milestone of a dubious kind was passed in Australia recently when it was discovered that the number of public relations practitioners had for the first time exceeded the number of journalists actually working as reporters and editors …

Recycled wire stories, the political spin cycle of staged events, fake surveys pushed by those PR people, and endless trivia about alleged celebrities set the tone. Feel-good musings replaced the hard-hitting editorials of before. The institutional memory now remains with the dogged band of readers who write letters to the editor.

Sounds like the gripe of a media academic that’s destined to be trashed by newspaper executives claiming everything’s on the up and the doomsayers have got it wrong.

But this shaft comes from within.Hamish McDonald, who has just taken voluntary redundancy from Fairfax is no ordinary laptop hackabout.The former foreign editor of the Sydney Morning Herald he also worked for the legendary Far Eastern Economic Review, so his comments are worth more than a taste and spit.

'... the Gillard white paper has five notable shortcomings. First, Australia’s embrace of Asia is manifestly transactional, not familial.' For the full list of ANU Professor Ramesh Thakur's criticisms click here

WHY DIDN'T HE SAY THIS EARLIER?

"It never ceases to a amaze me how little interest we show as a nation in our next-door neighbours."

That sounds like the mutterings of an academic under siege than a former foreign minister who had 11 years to effect change. Alexander Downer may have been a competent diplomat (I thought him ho-hum) but he's a lousy writer. None the less his column in an Adelaide rag are worth reading, if only for his opinions of Soeharto and his fear of who comes after SBY. Read it here

BUREAUCRATIC BARRIERS? Professor David Hill of Perth's Murdoch University founded the ACICIS program and would know more about the difficulties of getting students into Indonesia that most - so his reported comments in The Australian (regarding the Libs' so-called reverse Colombo Plan policy) on 27 Feb 2013 are worrisome:

"Getting a student into Singapore is pretty straightforward. Hong Kong, not an issue. Indonesia, for a variety of reasons, represents a challenge," he said.

Efforts to stimulate student interest would have to overcome a legacy of negative images of Indonesia. And negotiating the often complex bureaucracy of Indonesia required "on the ground" expertise.

"Obtaining a temporary resident permit for study in Indonesia is something that individual students find very, very difficult," Professor Hill said.

"Our experience (at ACICIS) is that (individual) universities in the main are not able to assist their students in that."

Nothing short of presidential intervention is likely to override Indonesia's immigration bureaucracy and create a workable student visa, according to education sources in Indonesia.

"I don't think a reverse Colombo Plan in Indonesia has legs, considering how the current visa system works," said Erin McMahon, one of the young graduates who has found it impossible to secure promised "work and holiday" visas to Indonesia.

"If keen Indonesianists have trouble working it out, then your average student isn't even going to bother," he said.

RETURN TO THE PAST. As this blog has noted for some time, Indonesia is rushing backwards into trade protectionism and rampant nationalism as we head towards next year's election. Check this commentary by Ganeshan Wignaraja of the Asia Development Bank Institute for a cautious comment while warning over growth slump.

ADVANCE INDONESIA WHERE? Al Jazeera's excellent 101 EAST TV programme's report on Indonesian education draws heavily on the Pearson Study; The Learning Curve that ranks the Republic at 40 on an international list. The programme asks 'why Indonesia's education system is one of the worst in the world.' Watch the programme for answers - it's on the web.

RAJA OBAMA? Is the US President's famous calmness under pressure the result of his time in Indonesia? Check this fascinating theory here

KEEP YOUR SOCIAL DISTANCE

New Zealand’s Defence White Paper 2010gave primacy to ‘security partnerships’ with Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada as partnerships that are ‘grounded in common traditions, experiences, and values’. ‘Values’ was mentioned frequently throughout the White Paper, although itspecified only ‘primacy of the rule of law, constraints on the unilateral exercise of force, and extending the same rights and responsibilities to all nations regardless of size or allegiance’ — values that are hardly unique to the Anglosphere. Preferring traditional allies can be supported by an idea of ‘social distance’, but its biggest element is really familiarity. Different economic interests and even different strategic alignments relative to Asia necessitate more incisive and innovative thinking. Gary Hawke, NZIER, writing in the East Asia Forum about the Asian Century

''Not Christ, not Marx, not Freud, despite their pretensions, has the final word to say about the fact of being human. And those who take solemnly the words of other men as absolute are, in the deepest sense, maiming their own sensibilities.'' Gore Vidal, as quoted by Age columnist Martin McKenzie-Murray, 27 Dec 2012

"We are a tiny population on the rim of one of the most dynamic, most populus regions on the globe and it's not going to be easy to keep our head above water unless we learn how to swim and if we don't we are going to drown." Perth academic Professor David Hill on Australia's determination to remain monolingual. Read more here

Defence analyst Professor Hugh White from the ANU pulls apart the way we think about Indonesia and run our aid programmes. Check here

GOOD NEWS

The Indonesian government is "tirelessly promoting religious tolerance and harmony" according to a new report. Sceptics might want to sample the Human Rights Watch response here

ARE RADICAL MUSLIMS RUNNING INDONESIA?

Listen to ANU Professor Merle Ricklefs on the influence of Islam in Java.

UNCOMFORTABLE REALITY:

",,,the Indonesian military is the cement of the social order and from an Indonesian perspective, vital in holding the archipelago together.The military is across or running every known racket in the archipelago,ably assisted by the police and navy, where they can. They are a vital link in the informal transportation of refugees to Australia.The Indonesian military control West Papua, to the misery of the indigenous melanesian population and they are ever ready to step into Aceh, Flores,Sulawesi or Bali, should a restive local population challenge Javanese rule and corruption.The welcome changes that have occurred must be seen as taking place within the military framework, although, as will be appreciated, the politics and social dynamics are complex and singularly fascinating." Former diplomat Bruce Haigh commenting on Shadow Foreign Affaits Minister Julie Bishop's comments on Indonesia in On-Line Opinion14 May 12

TOLERANT AND INCLUSIVE? “Four years ago, I came to Indonesia and experienced a nation of tolerance, openness and pluralism. Things have changed. Islamic radicals have been allowed to close down legitimate debate about issues which Indonesians hold dear to their hearts—the reform of Islam from within. But we will not be silenced. Our work of speaking truth to power has in fact been strengthened by this cowardly attack. We are not going away and will continue to fight for freedom of speech!” Canadian Muslim Irshad Manji, author of Allah, Liberty and Love, after being abused by Muslim fanatics and denied a platform at UGM Yogya, once a prestigious university.

As a representative of US business interests in Indonesia, I am often asked about the most important criteria for any investor. I respondwith three words: rule of law. AmCham MD Andrew White writing in The Jakarta Globe

'OUR AIM IS TO PLEASE''DFAT* is acutely aware of these foreign policy short comings with respect to Indonesia by arrogant, gauche and domestically focused Australian politicians. On the other hand DFAT stands in the way of a more mature relationship with Indonesia by seeking to keep in the closet some awful truths which would do both sides far more good than harm to air and then discuss'. Former diplomat Bruce Haigh writing in On Line Opinion (10 April 2012)(*DFAT refers to Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?The relationship with Indonesia is one of Australia’s most important but it is still not on a firm footing. Government-to-government ties have been strengthening but relations are focused around a mostly negative set of security-related issues. Business-to-business links are underdone and mutual public perceptions are poor. Without significant incentives to drive closer ties, one of Australia’s Most important relationships will continue to stagnate.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?Mutual public distrust and stereotypes are so entrenched that dramatic leadership gestures are needed to produce a step-increase in relations.President Yudhoyono’s forthcoming visit to Australia presents an important opportunity to discuss a new approach.Four options are: seeking a multi-decade vision for the economic relationship that looks beyond, and is much more ambitious than, the proposed FTA; a new Colombo Plan for Indonesia – with both vocational education and university components aimed at educating thousands of Indonesians per annum; forging a more outward-looking cooperation agenda that looks beyond internal threats; and overhauling traditional approaches to public diplomacy.Fergus Hanson:Indonesia and Australia - Time for a Step Change. (Lowy Institute Report, March 2012)

THE GREAT DIVIDE'Focusing just on the net worth of the top 500 individuals or families in each case, the Senators of Rome were about 10,000 times richer than the average farmer or slave living in the Roman Empire. In the United States today, wealth is twice as concentrated – the top 500 Americans are about 20,000 times as wealthy as the average citizen. Singapore’s ratio is slightly higher than that of the U.S., at about 25,000 to 1. But in Indonesia, the top 500 oligarchs are about 600,000 times richer than the average Indonesian.' Jeffrey Winters Pathways to a People's President, Inside Indonesia 107

WHO'D DISAGREE? WHO'D IMPLEMENT?

"The risk in our region nowadays is the risk of misunderstanding, miscalculation and misperception. I don’t believe our region faces a risk of aggressive intent to injure or harm anyone. What there is in our region is a need for more transparency, better understandinG, confidence building."Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa commenting on reports of a rift with the President over differing reactions to plans for US Marines in Darwin. The Jakarta Post 31 Dec 2011.

THE BASIC EQUATION

All governance relies on a passive trust on the part of the people if it is to function well. If trust is not given, laws will not be obeyed. When trust is withdrawn, societies stagnate because they lack any sense of the common good. They become polarised, and governments often rule by repression. The officials responsible for day to day governance become demoralised and unenthusiastic. Eureka Street consulting editor Andrew Hamilton

CHAMPS EAST JAVA

No need to travel to Paris to see the Champs Elysee - just go to Kediri in East Java. With this sort of opulence it it's clear the local government of Kedirii have solved all the local problems of infrastructure and hygiene.

INDONESIA ETC

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Michael Bachelard has been the Fairfax correspondent in Jakarta for the past three years, which he described as 'the most incredible experience'. I don't know him or his replacement Jewel Topsfield but I do know his copy. Print journalism tends to be an individual enterprise that relies on initiative and energy - Bachelard (who earlier wrote a book revealing the workings of the Exclusive Brethren) has both in spades. His work has been outstanding, running rings around other correspondents. Australian journalism at its best.

Elizabeth Pisani is a London-based epidemiologist. She used to be a journo based in Jakarta. She is also one of the best and sharpest writers on Indonesia. All her work, like this piece in The Diplomat is must-read material.

Her latest book Indonesia Etc has just been published by Granta. There'll be a review on these pages soon.

Australian academic Ed Aspinall will surely get a good readership for his latest piece with the above title in Inside Indonesia, edition 111. Here's a teaser quote:

The public face of election campaigns in Indonesia is often fairly anodyne, with dull speeches, lots of singing and dancing and formulaic policy promises. But these vanilla-flavoured public campaigns are almost always accompanied by so-called ‘black campaigns’. These are more or less deliberately engineered campaigns of rumour and innuendo accusing candidates of any number of sins: corruption, nepotism or other forms of illegal behaviour; polygamy; underworld connections; ethnic bias; religious laxness or heresy; hidden agendas and conspiracies of various sorts; and, of course, sexual infidelities or peculiarities of many kinds.

NOT A SIEV, OR AN ILLEGAL, BUT A HUMAN BEING

Just when you thought there's no more to be said about asylum seekers, along comes a spectacular piece of journalism that brings it back to reality -one person's story. Read it here

Congratulations to Paul Toohey of the Herald Sun for lifting our craft from the slapdash and superficial.

SUSPECT STATSAustralian development consultant Robert Cannon contributes to the valuable Development Policy Blog. Find it here A useful quote from a recent posting:

Australia and the European Union have assessed Jakarta’s ability to generate accurate and reliable information for the education sector as ‘moderate to low’

WHAT DO THEY THINK?

Fed up withnaive views of Indonesia pushed by people who hardly know the place - and that includes most Australian politicians? Then take a good look at the Lowy Institute's survey, It's a cold shower. Read here

ACT OF FREE CHOICE - OR ACT FREE OF CHOICE? It's the cynics comment on the deliberations which added West Papua to the Republic, but in this case appropriate to the choices facing voters in this year's Presidential Election. A useful form guide to the candidates hereCENSORED? I found the site blocked by Telkomsel when I tried to access Asia Sentinel and this story in particular, which offers a more muscular view of Indonesia's economic nationalism, now clearly government policy. Fortunately a work-around was possible. Further inquiries will be made - maybe the site showed a scandalous picture, like Obama and his wife kissing prior to the US inauguration. (Update: E-mails to the publisher went unanswered, so presumably indifferent.)NATIONALISM DRIVES POLICY: The live cattle export debacle is bringing out some truths about RI-Oz relationships as commentators like Ross Taylor of the Indonesia Institute start to shy away from the milksop platitudes paraded by diplomats and politicians. See his piece in The West Australian 27 Dec 2012

ALLIANCE MANAGEMENT is the new Paul Keating inspired buzz phrase for Australia's past foreign policy. The former PM wants even closer relationships with Indonesia and as expected is taking some knocks. Most are respectful - at least we're talking about something serious. This commentary in the SMH is worth a slow read.AUSTRALIA RECOGNISES ASIA? Well, only so far as terror and trade are concerned. There have been many fine words, but as usual not much real substance about a secular nation of 22 million on an island continent engaging with an Islamic republic of 240 million across the world's largest archipelago. This is not a negative rant, nor is Dr Stephen Grenville's lucid commentary of the realities. Nothing about the middle classes wanting malted milk shakes - just facts that can't be fluffed away.

TRUTH TELLING? Take a look at this Jakarta Globecommentary on the state of Indonesia and the culture that powers society - unusual because of its frankness.REGIONAL CHAOS? It has long been argued (including by the Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa) that a regional solution to the asylum seekers issue is required. Sounds good - but it's unlikely because Indonesia doesn't share Australia's concerns about the issue. Melbourne University's Tim Lindsey has moved the debate on with this well-considered piece in The Age.

Peripatetic academic Colin Brown (once in WA, then Queensland now RI) has provided the sort of insight into Indonesian thinking about asylum seekers that's been lacking in all the Oz-centric commentary to date. Fed up with predictable reportage lacking substance? Refresh your intellect here

Epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani worked in Indonesia many years ago. She's now back in the Archipelago and reporting her observations with refreshing vigour minus the ooh-aah rubbish that passes for travel writing. Try her take here

Some soberreporting on the Indonesian economy from the Financial Times (UK) to offset the trite tipple that's been passing for analysis since UK PM David Cameron and NZ PM John Key discovered a new market for their exports, overlooking the rise of nationalism and contradictory regulations threatening investment.

Foreigners criticising Indonesia are a yawn - the target is easy. When it's an Indonesian hitting the keyboard we should take notice. Human rights researcher Andreas Harsono has used the New York Times to knock back the cliche-de-jour of US and UK leaders by saying his homeland is No Model for Muslim Democracy. Read the story here.

READ THE SMALL PRINT Here's something to counter the hype about Indonesia being an investor's paradise backed by a welcoming government. Standard & Poors thinks otherwise. Read here

Is there a US base in Darwin? No, says the government. Yes, says a concerned Malcolm Fraser. Read the former PM's no-nonsense comment debunking the idea that we can buy future US support in The Age here

Economic nationalism is the new threat facing anyone trying to do business in Indonesia, a country whose idea of international investment seems to be a synonym for overseas aid. Read here

DANCING ON THE DOORSTEP

In the kampong of the East Java hilltown of Malang residents don’t need to go out for their entertainment. It comes to the doorstep. Jarang kepang or kuda lumping is a traditional dance that usually involves the performer riding a bamboo horse, cracking a whip and eventually going into a trance. However this guy, carrying his own sound system, modified his show and kept going only till householders gave him the money to go away

HOUSE OF RASPAN

If you’re looking for genuine East Java handicrafts, not mass produced plastic trash covered in varnish, try the tiny Malang workshop of Raspan.Along with his son Jumawan he’s a creative craftsman who can turn his hand to just about anything, from wayang kulit puppets to topeng (masks) and life-size laden, the serving figures with wayang features – and complete with the myths and stories. His other speciality is reverse painting on glass – a folk art popular more than a century ago and now rarely seen.

About Me

CV
Education: M Phil (UWA), Grad Dip Cultural Communication (Riverina), BA (Curtin)
Languages: English (fluent). Indonesian (intermediate). French (intermediate).
Past employers: Fairfax Press (The Age & Sydney Morning Herald – both broadsheet dailies) as a reporter and feature writers for ten years; ABC TV and Channel 9 as a presenter and producer for six years; AAP stringer for four years, Radio 6NR (manager for four years)(CLICK PICTURE BELOW); The West Australian (Perth daily newspaper) where I did my cadetship.
Awards: (All in Australia): Walkley Award for Journalism
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Media Award (Twice)
Equal Opportunity Commission Media Prize (Twice)
Daily News Centenary Prize; Perth Press Club Award; MBE Health Award
WA Week Book Award (now the Premier’s Prize) for non-fiction.
Media grants: Two from the Western Australian government, one from the Australian government. All to report on issues in Indonesia.
Published books: The People Next Door (UWA Press), Being Whitefella (FAC Press), Dying Inside (A & U).
SEE ALSO:
www.newzealandnow.blogspot.com

ON THE E-Reader / Bedside table

WHERE SOME AUSTRALIANS WOULD PREFER TO LIVE

INDONESIANS STUDYING OVERSEAS

STUDY IN AOTEAROA

Looking for a top flight international education in a safe and modern Western nation wth a prestigious school, polytechnic or university? Click the picture

CORE PROMISES

Politics is a necessary evil for as Winston Churchill said: It’s better to jaw-jaw, than war-war. But most of us are deeply cynical about the way the game is played and reckon a politician’s promise has a currency value of the Zimbabwe dollar. In this election year thousands of political hopefuls will twist, warp, manipulate, mangle and maul the language to make us think they mean what they say. This dictionary decodes the language of politics. Like the nutrition information on a can of beans CORE PROMISES reveals the value that can be found inside every politician’s pledge. Politics: - N: cunningness, craftiness Adj: subtlety, artificiality, maneuvering, temporisation, circumvention, chicanery, sharp practice, knavery, jugglery, concealment, guile, duplicity, foul play, diplomacy, Machiavellian, jobbery, gerrymandering, artifice, wile, trickery, subterfuge, evasion, imposture, deception, undermine, flatter, V: crafty, vulpine, tricky, wily, insidious, stealthy, foxy, underhand, double-faced, shifty, crooked, leery. (Synonyms collected by Peter Mark Roget) To see the text version, click on the picture

WINMAR WITOELAR

CLICK THE PIC to check this lucid, veteran commentator for insights into Indonesian politics.

Under threat?

Candi Pari, built during the era of Javanese ruler Hayam Wuruk (1350 - 1389) could be under threat from the unstoppable Lapindo mud volcano just two kilometres distant in central East Java. The huge eruption of gas and mud that started in May 2006 continues to spew thousands of tonnes of gunk into the surrounding countryside, drowning villages and fields, displacing an estimated 20,000 people. The eruption has allegedly been caused by a flawed gas exploration project.

Not a sanitary sight

Quote: The number of Indonesian billionaires doubled in the past year alone, bringing the total up to 21 individuals sharing a total combined wealth of over $55 billion in a country where 13% of the population, or 32 million people, are still living in extreme poverty on less than $1.50 a day. (The Jakarta Post 28 Sept 2011, quoted in an interview with one of the mega-rich, Sandiaga Uno.) The river that bisects Surabaya, Indonesia’s second biggest city, is called Kali Mas, meaning Gold River. Maybe, long, long ago. Now locals call it Kali Coca-Cola. The pollutants and filth that give the river its vile color include tonnes of human waste for the river is an open sewer and washroom for the poor who squat on its banks and put up clapboard toilets for a little privacy. Next time politicians and economists talk about improving conditions think of this little girl and her mum – just a couple among millions

SMOKE FACTS NOT PLAIN TO ALL

While Australia plans plain packaging for cigarettes in a bid to drive down sales, in Indonesia the tobacco business is booming. Close to half a million youngsters under 14 are reported to be smoking, with manufacturers making their products sweeter, allegedly to attract kids. The famous kretek cigarettes using cloves have a tar content more than double that allowed in Australia. Read more here:.